Expired Love: 100 Drabbles
by Phantasy Star
Summary: A collection of drabbles based on Usagi and Mamoru, with titles from the 100 Themes challenge of "Usagi and Mamoru: A Love Like No Other". All romantic, most depressing, some angsty.
1. 19 Liar

19. Liar  
Phantasy Star  
466 Words

Usagi walked briskly down the winter streets. It seemed darker than usual, even for December. What was different? Even the wind seemed unbearable today, more frigid and unrelenting than usual.

Still, she couldn't hide the smile on her face. Earlier today, she received what most people would consider bad news. But she had seen it coming, and found herself actually relieved that it was finally over, that the words were finally said.

* * *

_"This destiny thing__," Mamoru murmured, "If it were meant to be, we'd end up together. I just don't want us to be together because some old story tells us we have to. You're only a teenager, Usagi-chan, and you deserve __to have a teenage life – to meet people, to have crushes, to go on first dates. I don't want to take that away from you."_

_The arcade seemed__ quiet. The games were less lively than they normally were. Did Motoki __turn the sound levels down? Were there less people today?_

_  
Usagi smiled, "I've been thinking the same thing recently, Mamoru-san__."_

_  
He sighed, relieved, "I'm glad, Usagi. Listen, I have to go to class, but I'll see you later, all right?"_

_With his usual disarming smile, he leaned across their table and ruffled her hair playfully, giving her a wink __before walking out of the arcade. Usagi waited in their booth for a few minutes. Maybe __it was more than a few minutes, maybe ten or twenty or thirty, she couldn't remember. Her eyes drifted to the arcade doors every now and then. They didn't open again._

* * *

Now she was walking down the December street on her way home. Her smile had become more obvious. She was finally free. She didn't have to worry about her relationship with Mamoru anymore. He had grown distant over the past few weeks and now she didn't have to worry or wonder why.

Perhaps he was right. Perhaps now she could really fall in love, be young, be giddy and nervous and dazzled and swooning, just like other teenage girls when they have their first love. She laughed, realizing how silly it was that she had gotten so attached to a relationship which was really nothing but a puppy love. A crush.

As she turned the key to her house, she thought about what was to come. She couldn't wait for her single life to begin. She couldn't wait to go out with that cute guy who always seemed to stare at her in calculus class, blushing when she made eye contact.

She laughed, suddenly feeling giddy.

She was free and she was happy.

Stepping through the door to her house, she shut it quickly as if to keep the frigidity out.

Then she put her face into her hands and cried, and she thought she might never stop.

* * *

**AN: **Most of the drabbles in this collection will be downright depressing, very angst-filled, or at least bittersweet, mainly because there are some amazing cute-drabble collections out there (Alicia-sama and MegTao's inspired works come to mind) and little ol' me can't compete. Hope you like!


	2. 71 Quiet Despair

71. Quiet Despair  
Phantasy Star  
276 Words

Mamoru stared up at the darkened ceiling. His chest rose and fell steadily, a maneuver he had mastered over the past few weeks. His heart was racing but his breathing stayed the same pace. His eyes remained unmoved.

The lamp from the living room normally seemed gentle and warm; now even the faint glimmer touching his bedroom seemed glaring and hostile. The light entering through the half-closed door made angry shadows across the bedroom wall.

He could hear the soft murmurs, the muffled giggling, the soft shuffling sounds as Usagi shifted on the couch.

She thought he was asleep. She always did.

Every night it was the same. 2AM, she would turn to Mamoru and whisper his name, checking that he would make no response. 3:30AM she would get up and close the door halfway, moving soundlessly into the living room. Then 4AM. 4AM, _he _would call. (045) 282-9120. He always called.

Mamoru wanted to shut out her voice. He didn't want to hear the whispered words. He tried to force himself not to concentrate, not to understand. He didn't want to spend the night eavesdropping on her.

"- I missed you –"

"- Seiya-kun, I –"

"- I'll tell Mamoru I'm meeting Rei –"

"- I love –"

Mamoru shut his eyes tightly. _Stop. Stop, Usa__ko__. _A tear slipped down his temple, drying before it could reach his pillow. _Stop, Usa__ko__. __Turn the living room light off and c__ome back__ to bed__._

He had never been afraid of the dark before. Now, every evening he dreaded the night.

Feeling himself break apart slowly, he clutched the blanket tighter with his fists and waited until morning.

* * *

_Please review. If you feel that any of these drabbles warrant a sequel, please let me know._


	3. 61 Advice

**AN: **Dedicated to Anenihan, who will hate this story but hopefully like my writing anyway (thanks for your cute review!). I added an Author's Note at the bottom of the first drabble, which explains the mood of these drabbles. Please review! P.S. I wrote the sequel to Quiet Despair, and am currently editing it.

_

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61. Advice  
Phantasy Star  
219 Words

Her heart ached, never having seen him like this, this vulnerable and broken. She let him rest his head against her shoulder, stroking his hair as his weight sank them into the couch. He was trembling.

"Mamoru-kun," Usagi whispered.

She hated that he went to six stores to find the necklace this girl wanted. She hated that he gave this girl the most beautiful roses in the world and she didn't even appreciate it. She hated that he was wasting the best years of his life on her. Where was the tough, unmovable Mamoru she knew?

"I love her…" he choked, "But she keeps trying to leave me. I used every paycheque from my last year of residency so that I can buy her that necklace, but…"

_She's playing you, Mamoru. She only wants you for your money. She keeps lying to you. She treats you like garbage, can't you see that? Stop wasting your time with her._

All these things she wanted to say.

"Mamoru…" she said against his hair as she cradled him, "She doesn't deserve you."

"No," he said hoarsely, "She's perfect. Perfect."

Their conversations always ended there. She held him, drying his tears gently with her hands.

_She doesn't deserve you, _she repeated in her mind.

Her heart broke.

_When will you notice me again?_


End file.
